Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Doctor RJ, Magnifico, annetteboardman and Man Oh Man. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) wader, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, Oke and jlms qkw.
OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00 AM Eastern Time.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
Special thanks to JekylinHyde for the OND banner.
BBC
Iran's ex-President Rafsanjani dies at 82
Iran's ex-President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a dominant figure in the country's politics since the 1980s, has died at the age of 82.
Mr Rafsanjani, president from 1989 to 1997, suffered a heart attack.
He played a pivotal role in the 1979 revolution but later in life became a counterpoint to hardline conservatives.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei hailed a "companion of struggle" despite their differences, saying that the loss was "difficult and overwhelming".
"The different opinions and interpretations at time in this long period could never entirely break up the friendship" between us, Ayatollah Khamenei said.
There will be three days of national mourning and a funeral in Tehran is due on Tuesday, which has been declared a public holiday.
BBC
Deadly icy spell grips much of Europe, including Greek islands
Icy temperatures across Europe have left more than 20 people dead and blanketed even the Greek islands and southern Italy in snow.
Italy saw ferries and flights cancelled and schools in the south are expected to close on Monday.
Turkey has also been badly affected. The Bosphorus was closed to shipping as a heavy snowstorm hit Istanbul.
At least 10 people died of cold in Poland. Night temperatures in Russia plunged to minus 30C.
Normally milder Greece has witnessed temperatures of minus 15C in the north where an Afghan migrant died of cold last week and roads were closed.
In Athens, the temperature failed to rise above 0C and several of the islands were covered in snow.
Some of the Greek islands are home to thousands of migrants and many are being moved to temporary housing and heated tents.
BBC
Venezuela minimum wage to rise by 50% 'to combat inflation'
Venezuela's government has announced a 50% increase in the minimum wage and pensions amid runaway inflation.
President Nicolas Maduro says the move will protect jobs and incomes. Critics say it may worsen the crisis.
The opposition accuses Mr Maduro of mismanaging oil-rich Venezuela's crumbling economy. But he says he faces an economic war by political foes and hostile businessmen.
The International Monetary Fund says inflation will reach 1,600% this year.
Mr Maduro said he was raising the monthly minimum wage to 40 bolivars, about $60 (£49) at the highest official exchange rate, or $12 on the black market.
It is the fifth increase in one year. The measure would benefit public workers, the armed forces and pensioners, he said.
BBC
Beijing pollution: Police force to combat toxic smog
(We’ll need them soon, after the EPA is dissolved)
A new team of environmental police will try to reduce hazardous levels of toxic smog engulfing Beijing, the city's acting mayor has said.
The police will look for local sources of air pollution, including open-air barbecues and dusty roads, Cai Qi says, according to Xinhua state news agency.
The mayor has also promised to reduce coal consumption by 30% this year.
Many residents have been forced to stay in their homes for days at a time to avoid breathing the poisonous air.
The public has been calling on the government to do more to address major sources of smog, including reducing China's reliance on coal-fired power plants, the primary source of electricity in the country.
Officials say unfavourable weather conditions in the capital have prevented pollutants from dispersing.
BBC
Tube strike: 24-hour London Underground walkout begins
Tube staff have gone on strike across the entire London Underground network in a row over ticket office closures.
Workers from the RMT and the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) unions are staging a 24-hour walk out.
"Last-ditch" talks, called for by the Mayor of London, failed to materialise after unions rejected a "new offer" from Transport for London (TfL).
Passengers have been warned that most Zone 1 stations are likely to be closed during the action.
A few have shut since the strike began at 18:00.
TfL has advised passengers to check for updates on its website.
It warned there would be "severely reduced service across the Tube network" and no service at all on the Victoria or Waterloo & City lines.
About 150 extra buses were set to be deployed and river services "enhanced" throughout the strike, with "travel ambassadors" deployed to help commuters, TfL said.
Al Jazeera
Iraq: Suicide attacks rock Baghdad killing at least 20
Suicide bombings at two marketplaces in eastern Baghdad killed at least 20 people - the latest in a spate of attacks in the Iraqi capital that have left dozens dead in recent days.
In the first blast claimed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the attacker drove an explosives-rigged car into a vegetable market in the mainly Shia district of Jamila and detonated it, killing at least 13 people, police said.
A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew himself up a few hours later at a market in the mostly Shia district of Baladiyat, killing another seven people.
Both attacks wounded at least 50 people.
Al Jazeera
Nigeria marks 1,000 days since Chibok girls' abduction
Sunday marks a 1,000 days since 276 Nigerian girls were abducted from a school in the country's northeast by Boko Haram fighters.
Some of them have since been released while others managed to escape - but nearly 200 girls still remain in captivity.
In a message to mark the mass kidnapping, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari said he remained committed to ensuring the abducted schoolgirls are reunited with their families "as soon as practicable".
"We are hopeful that many more will still return," Buhari, who came to power in 2015, said. "The tears never dry, the ache is in our hearts.
"Our hearts will leap for joy, as more and more of our daughters return. It is a goal we remain steadfastly committed to.”
The Guardian
Defense secretary: North Korea’s weapons capabilities a 'serious threat'
North Korea’s nuclear weapons capabilities and ballistic missile defense programs constitute a “serious threat” to the United States, defense secretary Ash Carter said on Sunday.
The US is prepared to shoot down a North Korean missile launch or test “if it were coming towards our territory or the territory of our friends and allies”, Carter said during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press.
Earlier this week, Donald Trump voiced a less concerned attitude to North Korean tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMS), saying in a tweet: “It won’t happen!”
Trump also used Twitter to issue familiar criticism of China, writing: “China has been taking out massive amounts of money and wealth from the US in totally one-sided trade, but won’t help with North Korea. Nice!”
On Sunday, North Korea said it could test launch an ICBM at any time from any location set by leader Kim Jong-un, and said hostile US policy was to blame for its arms development. Kim said on 1 January that his nuclear-capable country was close to test-launching an ICBM.
Raw Story
China state newspaper warns Trump: End one-China policy and we will ‘take revenge’
State-run Chinese tabloid Global Times sounded a warning to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday only hours after Taiwan’s president transited Houston, saying that China would seek to “take revenge” should Trump renege on the one-China policy.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met senior U.S. Republican lawmakers during her stopover in Houston en route to Central America, where she will visit Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Beijing had asked Washington not to allow Tsai to enter the United States and that she not have any formal government meetings under the one China policy.
“Sticking to (the one China) principle is not a capricious request by China upon U.S. presidents, but an obligation of U.S. presidents to maintain China-U.S. relations and respect the existing order of the Asia-Pacific,” said the Global Times editorial. The influential tabloid is published by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily.
Raw Story
Ted Cruz and Texas governor defy China edict to meet with president of Taiwan
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and Texas Governor Greg Abbott met with the president of Taiwan on Sunday during a stopover in Houston that was sure to pique Chinese leaders already upset by her conversation with President-elect Donald Trump.
It is not unusual for U.S. lawmakers to meet with Taiwanese leaders when they pass through the country, but tensions are high this winter after Trump, who like Cruz and Abbott is a Republican, spoke to Tsai Ing-wen last month.
The telephone conversation broke with decades of precedent and cast doubt on his incoming administration’s commitment to Beijing’s “one China” policy.
Cruz, who represents Texas, said some members of Congress had received a letter from the Chinese consulate asking them not to meet with Tsai during her stopovers.
“The People’s Republic of China needs to understand that in America we make decisions about meeting with visitors for ourselves,” Cruz said in a statement. “This is not about the PRC. This is about the U.S. relationship with Taiwan, an ally we are legally bound to defend.”
Washington Post
Trump and Sessions plan to restrict highly skilled foreign workers.
“We call him Visa Balaji,” said Madhu Vadlamani, 25. “He is famous for granting visas.”
Vadlamani and her husband of just three days, Revanth Chilakamarri, 29, were but two of thousands of worshipers orbiting the “Visa Balaji” temple near here one recent morning. Years ago, the incarnation of Vishnu had blessed them both with student visas to the United States. Though they had grown up just seven lanes apart, they met in America and fell in love.
The two software developers had returned to the temple that morning to appeal to Balaji, in hopes of renewing their American sojourn with a new visa — the H-1B. For the new political order taking shape in Washington, however, H-1Bs aren’t quite welcome. Amid promises of sweeping changes to immigration policy, President-elect Donald Trump and his choice for attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), have tabbed the program for a major overhaul, and might even scrap it altogether. In the House, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is on the same wavelength.
L A Times
Powerful storm causes widespread flooding in Northern California, evacuations in neighboring Nevada
The first band of what forecasters predict will be the region's most powerful storm in a decade continued to pummel Northern California on Sunday, causing flooding throughout the region and prompting evacuations in parts of neighboring Nevada.
Emergency officials voluntarily evacuated a total of 1,300 homes in a south Reno neighborhood Sunday afternoon as the Truckee River began to leave its banks and drainage ditches started to overflow south of U.S. Interstate 80., according to the Associated Press.
No injuries had been reported, but high waters forced the closure of numerous roads, a series of bridges in downtown Reno and a pair of Interstate 80 offramps in neighboring Sparks, where the worst flooding is expected.
Meanwhile, officials reported scattered flooding and mudslides throughout Northern California on Sunday, notably in the North Bay, where several creeks and rivers were rising quickly. Motorists had to be rescued on the 101 Freeway in Sonoma County when the highway flooded. Several smaller roads were also closed because of flooding.
(101 in Sonoma County is actually in my view. I didn’t go out today)
The Guardian
Golden Globes 2017: La La Land caps off big night with win for film – live
Live updates.